If you’re surrounded by uplifting people, don’t read this.

If you are continuously lifted by people, skip this article. If you have enough uplifting inspiration, this article isn’t for you. If you are surrounded by souls of lifters who motivate you to new levels of consciousness, to greater heights, to unchartered territory of discovery physically, intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually, don’t read this because you are blessed.

Utopia was a book written by Saint Thomas More in 1516, entirely in Latin. There was no internet, no Facebook, no Twitter, no Linkedin, no Instagram but it still became a timeless classic. The original title was De Optimo Republicae Statu deque Nova Insula Utopia. Translation – On the Best State of a Republic and on the New Island of Utopia. Utopia was the name of a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean where everything was perfect – perfect laws, perfect economy, perfect people, perfect, love, perfect #peace. Utopia was imaginary. It wasn’t real. Saint Thomas More made it up. In reality, Utopia doesn’t exist. Far from it. Utopia was an escape from reality, to entertain readers who were searching for a few moments of #peace. That’s why it became a masterpiece. I would never call Utopia bullshit out of respect for the author who achieved sainthood, but that’s what the concept of Utopia is. Not the book…the concept. Utopia is make-believe.

Just like today when my granddaughter Violet asked me to play a game where she would “pretend” to be Santa Claus and I had to pretend to be an “elf.” She stressed that “it’s only pretending, Grandpa” because even a 4-year old knew that real-life and make-believe cannot be confused and mixed together as interchangeable parts. Violet, of course, was not the real Santa, I was not a real elf, and we were not in the real North Pole. Violet has become concerned over the good-bad list in the past week because we as a society do a great job of attaching labels on people and placing conditions on love, even from Santa Claus. Violet wrote three people on the good list. Then she put her one year-old brother, Halton, on the bad list to balance things off. What did Halton do bad? “Dangerous things.” The only other addition to the bad list was our dog, Rocky. No explanation was needed. At the end of the list, Violet emphasized again that this was “pretend only,” that she was “not the real Santa Claus.”

The make-believe Santa/elf scene was a few minutes of Utopia. But like Violet implied, it’s only temporary. It won’t last because many, many people are hell-bent on spreading misery. Many, many people are committed to causing hell. Many, many people are drama experts devoted to depressing others, to get other people down as low as possible. There aren’t too many souls of lifters like Violet who will stop spreading depressing news just for a while. There aren’t many souls of lifters like Violet who will just take a break from misery and hell and lift you up instead of filling you with dread.

As a solution to all the depression, misery, and hell that is prevalent in our often sad society, I changed the preface for of all 12 of my new books to the following message – “I need to be lifted. I need to lift. I can’t rely on anyone else to lift me so I’m writing these books to lift. If you want a job done right, do it yourself.”

The only growth that some people experience is the growth of depressing, miserable people around them. I could write a novel tonight about every incident of hell that people have gone out of their way to cause in 2014 but it would be repetitive because you know just as many and have experienced just as many, if not more. But I thank the miserable, depressing people because they motivate me to lift more and more and more and more because life is truly too short to live in the hell that depressing, miserable people cause.

While Leeann is off-duty tomorrow, I’m filling in as guest coach to teach a 1-hour X-men Boot Camp that has changed the lives of countless athletes – body, mind & soul. Not only transformative, its’ fun-filled family fitness in the spirit of the festive season that tends to decay fitness in all shapes & sizes. Dual meaning. X-men Boot Camp is a proactive approach to building the level of strength needed to shape strong bodies, minds, & souls. The conventional reactive approach doesn’t workout. Dual meaning. Reacting to overeating & overdrinking takes months of recovery. The alleged fitness experts worry so much about recovery between workouts. The true worry is recovery from hangovers and binging. The recovery from trashing oneself with junk takes months, even an entire year. Blessings to all. Hopefully you’ve made Santa’s good list. May you all get what you need the most. #SeasonsGreetings #PeaceonEarth

My workout song of the week is after my signature. Lift hard, lift heavy, lift often, lift forever, life for life. There are enough people who are unwilling or incapable of lifting. Lift them. Lift them up higher than they ever imagined being lifted.

He also has written 20 editions of 6 law enforcement academic textbooks. A new 8-volume interrogation book series will be released in 2014. And just released, a new children’s book called “BE FIT – DON’T QUIT.” His latest book on human potential called “Hashtag Peace” is at the editing stage. He just finished another book called “Lifter’s High.” Both will be released soon.